The disclosure relates, generally, to helmets, and more particularly, to the provision of audio signals to wearers of helmets, such as aviation helmets.
Aviation helmets, such as the Gentex® SPH-5™ Rotary Wing Helmet, generally include a rigid outer shell (made, e.g., from a graphite-nylon composite) with integrated audio components used by aircrew during flight for communications. The audio components in the helmet interface with radio communications or other audio equipment of an aircraft via physical wiring or wireless communications. The audio components typically include left and right earpieces to provide audio signals to the wearer of the helmet, and a microphone to receive audio signals from the wearer of the helmet.
Although aviation helmets are manufactured to include earpieces and a microphone, these audio components can suffer from wear and often need replacement. Some wearers of aviation helmets wish to replace manufacturer-supplied earpieces with earpieces that are a more comfortable fit for the wearer's head. Other wearers of aviation helmets wish to replace manufacturer-supplied microphones and/or earpieces with those that can deliver higher audio quality.
Conventionally, the only option for the consumer to replace aviation helmet audio components was to use replacement components having identical or similar specifications to those original manufacturer-supplied components being replaced—i.e., having the same uncomfortable fit and/or undesirable audio fidelity.